With extreme heat causing disruption to public services and renewed warnings about risks to life, Mr Foster argues that Britain needs a hard-headed shift towards climate adaptation: cooler classrooms, safer hospitals, more resilient infrastructure and homes that people can actually cope with living in during dangerous temperatures. 

Mr Foster says the science on climate change is clear, we will experience more frequent and extreme weather but warns that politicians are misleading the public if they suggest Britain can stop heatwaves by forcing people to buy heat pumps and electric cars. 

He said: “The country has experienced a heatwave and it will have had many adverse impacts, including deaths from heat. So, it is imperative that adaptation to climate change must be our focus. Our public services have suffered; schools and hospitals need investment to cope with future weather extremes. Our homes need to adapt too.”

He added: “The simplistic, knee-jerk response from some is to urge the speeding up of climate mitigation to reduce UK emissions with more heat pumps, more EVs, and an end to using gas and oil. But even if we achieved net zero overnight, 99 per cent of global emissions would still be impacting the climate and our weather extremes. And bluntly, as a country we can’t afford to do both adaptation and mitigation at this time.”

The warning comes as the UK faces growing pressure to prepare for hotter summers. The Climate Change Committee has called for urgent action to protect people from extreme heat, while official health planning guidance recognises that high temperatures and heatwaves increase risks of illness and death, especially for vulnerable people.

Mike Foster continued: “I despair when some climate activists oppose air conditioning because it uses energy; it is the price we must pay for global failure to address carbon emissions. Our infrastructure needs to be more resilient to weather extremes. Yes, it will cost billions, but frankly we have no choice.” 

He said voters would rather see practical action than expensive virtue-signalling: “I suspect voters would prefer this to being coerced into spending huge sums on heat pumps and EVs and still struggling to cope with extreme weather.” 

The article also points to the uncomfortable reality that while China’s industrial boom continues to fuel global emissions, British households may still end up paying more to keep cool.

Mr Foster concluded: “It might be a tad ironic to divert spending away from carbon emission reductions and towards adaptation. But equally, while the carbon emissions from China’s industrial boom are fuelling climate change, China also gets to sell shedloads more air-conditioning units as we struggle to combat the heat.”

Key message

Britain cannot air-condition the planet, but it can make sure its own classrooms, hospitals, homes and workplaces are fit for hotter summers.